What Was The Card That Got You Hooked Into Card Collecting?
We all have that one card or perhaps it was a certain year or set that got our attention and got us hooked in the hobby.
In my case it was the first year I began collecting. My first set was the 1987 Topps baseball with the iconic wood grain borders. It definitely wasn’t the wood grain that got me. At the time I didn’t love the 87 Topps design at all, all though it has definitely grown on me over the years. The card that got me was actually a card within a card in the 87 Topps set.
When I first saw the famous turn back the clock subset I will admit I was a bit confused. A card within a card was something I had never seen before. But when I spotted the Rickey Henderson 1982 Topps Turn Back the Clock card that was my moment.
Rickey had quickly become one of my favorite players in MLB as a new young fan. At the time he was the all star leadoff hitter for the Yankees, and seeing a young Rickey in his A’s uniform and base stealing crouch about to pounce on second base, took my affinity for Rickey and for collecting for that matter to a new level. That Rickey 82 Topps base card became the most desired card to add to my collection.
The 82 Topps design looked so retro to me at the time as a 7 year old youngster. I loved the bright colors along the white borders and there was something about seeing Rickey in the A’s uniform for the first time. The card just felt so “old” as a 7 year old. While the card was only 5 years old at the time that was three quarters of my life at that point so you can understand why it felt like such a relic.
I was just starting to understand the rookie card craze that was in full effect in the late 80’s and the 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson rookie was one of the most sought after cards in the hobby. But it wasn’t the Rickey rookie that stole my heart, it was the 82 Topps Rickey. Not even in middle school yet, with my only form of income being a few bucks from “chores” or maybe first holy communion money the Rickey rookie card was well out of my price range so the reality of getting that card was slim to none. The 82 Topps Rickey however was still under the radar enough being his 3rd year card that I knew I had a slight chance of finding one I could afford.
Coincidentally 1982 was Rickey’s best base stealing year of his illustrious career. It was the year he set the single season stolen base record with 130 steals a number that still has not been matched.
Rickey went on to become the All-Time Stolen Base leader in MLB history with 1,406 surpassing the great hall of famer Lou Brock. He was the AL MVP in 1990 and accumulated over 3,000 hits in his 25 year first ballot hall of fame career.
Rickey was “The Guy”. Built like an NFL running back, with quads like an Olympic sprinter he was a standout football and baseball player in high school, with football actually being his best sport. Recruited mostly by top colleges for his football talents, Rickey only chose to pursue baseball when he was drafted by the A’s because his mother didn’t want him to play football. Afraid he would get hurt she persuaded Rickey to pursue baseball as a full time career.
I’m pretty sure if Rickey had decided he wanted to try his hand at both baseball and football like Bo Jackson and Deon Sanders would later do, he would have succeeded. He had the same type of explosiveness and power in his body that Bo had. When Bo was famously playing both pro sports at a high level, Rickey had discussions with Raiders Owner Al Davis about him playing football and baseball. While Al Davis was apparently totally on board with the idea the Oakland A’s brass quickly shot the idea down. At the time Rickey didn’t fight the issue but said that it was his dream to play both sports.
One can only imagine what could have been if Rickey never chose baseball or decided to play both sports. But when I look today at the 82 Topps Rickey Henderson, the card that got me hooked in the hobby, I’m grateful as baseball fans we got to see 25 seasons of the All-Time greatness that was Rickey.
